1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a guide rail for a drawer. More particularly, the present invention relates to an automatic locking apparatus used in a guide rail for a drawer, in which the automatic locking apparatus can slidably lock the drawer on the guide rail even if a user touches the drawer with little force.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, a drawer is installed in a cabinet, a desk, and the like so as to allow a user to store various materials, such as personal things, documents and various office supplies, in the drawer according to applications thereof. Such a drawer slidably moves along a guide rail including fixing sliders attached to both inner side surfaces of a drawer receiving section, and movable sliders attached to both outer side surfaces of the drawer.
In detail, as shown in FIG. 1, a conventional guide rail 1 includes a fixing slider 10 and a movable slider 20, in which at least one coupling hole 11 is formed in the fixing slider 10 such that the fixing slider 10 can be coupled with a side surface of a drawer receiving section A (see, FIG. 2) by means of a bolt and a screw, a first stopper 13 is provided at one end of a recess section 12 of the fixing slider 10 so as to limit the movement of the drawer, and a first convey slot 14 having a predetermined depth is formed on outer portions of upper and lower bending sections of the fixing slider 10, and in which the movable slider 20 has a size sufficient for receiving the fixing slider 10, second and third stoppers 23 and 24 are provided at both ends of a recess section 22 of the movable slider 20 so as to limit the movement of the drawer, a second convey slot 25 having a predetermined depth, which is corresponding to the first convey slot 14 of the fixing slider 10, is formed on inner portions of upper and lower bending sections of the movable slider 20, and a plurality of screw holes 21 are formed at the bottom of the recess section 22 of the movable slider 20 so as to couple the movable slider 20 with the drawer B (see, FIG. 2) while supporting the drawer.
In addition, as shown in FIG. 2, when the fixing slider 10 is accommodated in the movable slider 20, the upper and lower bending sections of the fixing slider 10 are spaced apart from the upper and lower bending sections of the movable slider 20 by a predetermined distance, so that a roller bracket 30 equipped with at least one roller 31 can be provided between the fixing slider 10 and the movable slider 20.
In a state in which the guide rail 1 including the fixing slider 10 and the movable slider 20 makes contact with the side of the drawer B and the drawer receiving section A, if the user pulls or pushes the drawer to open or close the drawer, the drawer slidably moves smoothly according to the movement of the roller bracket 30 installed in the first and second convey slots 14 and 25.
That is, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, if the user pulls the drawer in a state in which the drawer has been accommodated in the drawer receiving section A, the roller bracket 30 and the movable slider 20 are slidably moved in the moving direction of the drawer along the first covey slot 14 of the fixing slider 10. At this time, if the drawer is fully pulled, both end portions of the roller bracket 30 make contact with the first and third stoppers 13 and 24, so that the movement of the drawer is restricted without separating the movable slider 20 and the roller bracket 30 from the fixing slider 10.
In addition, if the user pushes the drawer to close the drawer, the second stopper 23 makes contact with one end of the fixing slider 10, so that the movement of the drawer is restricted.
However, the drawer having the above structure represents problems when the user pushes or pulls the drawer close or open the drawer, especially, when the user pushes the drawer to close the drawer. That is, if the desk is inclined, the drawer may not be closed, but may be automatically opened due to the tare thereof.
In order to solve the above problem, a guide rail equipped with a locking device has been suggested. However, according to the guide rail equipped with the locking device, the user must push the drawer with strong force in order to lock the drawer, so that not only is noise generated, but also the drawer or the guide rail is broken when it is used for a long period of time.